Traffic
Strange subject, I know. Many people often wonder about our daily life in Guatemala. Well, "traffic" is definitely part of our daily life. When we lived in New Hampshire, I used to commute to Boston so I am no stranger to traffic, but Guatemala City takes this concept to a whole new level. In this city of millions, the infrastructure unfortunately is not adequate for the amount of traffic that is on the roads, especially during commute times. For example - the commute to our mission office is about 7 miles from our home just outside the city. Here is how it went this AM.
The first picture is about 2 miles from our home....it took about 40 minutes to get to this point this morning. I took the second to show you about the buses here. It is typical for them to pour black smoke out the back, and also to drive with their doors open so people can jump in and out without taking much time. 
I arrived at the office 55 minutes after leaving home.
The first picture is about 2 miles from our home....it took about 40 minutes to get to this point this morning. I took the second to show you about the buses here. It is typical for them to pour black smoke out the back, and also to drive with their doors open so people can jump in and out without taking much time. Sometimes, people get impatient and "create" their own lane of traffic when they get tired of waiting. They first show their impatience by laying on their horn for a long time, then they just pull out and drive past the line, like the Land Rover in this picture. It was behind me and pulled past four cars to the front of the line, then almost got hit by another car when it pulled out into the traffic. This is about a mile from the office, and today about 50 minutes into the commute.
Lastly, here is an aerial shot of a "piece" of Guatemala City. (click on it to enlarge it). It helps to give you a glimpse of how large and how crowded Guatemala City is. Hope you have a great day!.jpg)
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9 comments:
ahhh the traffic in Guatemala city! It took Phil almost 5 minutes to just get out of our drive way this morning! and his commute is 7 miles and takes 12 minutes. By the way sitting in that traffic like that how many punch buggys did you see? And Phil thinks it is time for you to get a motorcycle.
ever think of moving to Verbana? hahaha
Hmmmmm, a motorcycle. They are an entirely different subject. They buzz down the center lane between all the cars and get there before everyone. We have seen entire families on one motorcycle....isn't the gas tank just another seat for 2 toddlers?? I think Matt would agree.
I think I would pay money to see Robin, with her helmet on, riding down the streets of Guat. family in tow...hehe...love you Robin :)
ahh, you should put "Live Free or Die" on your car. Send a message. It almost looks like driving in LA. As far as a bike goes, you have to have a little crazy in you to do that. It always scares me when a bike drives by my window in bumper to bumper traffic. Although R.G. started to ride a bike a week after driving to seminary. But he said he had a little crazy in him, anyways.
Hey Hastings!
Had I known you had a blog, I would've checked in a long time ago. Hope you are all doing well. We really enjoyed catching up over Christmas, and are sorry that we didn't have more time together.
That traffic is something else. I thought Pittsburgh was bad, but 40 minutes for 2 miles? That's just crazy. Wouldn't it be faster to walk?
Ian
Bob
Discover any sinkholes lately on that commute? :-)
JasonSt
Jason - I was thinking the same thing! Those poor families just had their homes swallowed :-/
Wow... It does look like L.A.! Being in the northern part of Orange County (just south of L.A.), the traffic here isn't much different. But, we just moved closer to where I work so my 45 minute commute was cut down to about 25 minutes (max)!
In case you need some encouragement about rush hour traffic, I blogged about it a while back and played "12 Blessings." If nothing else, it'll make you smile :-)
http://andrewandamygilmore.blogspot.com/search?q=12+blessings
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